Japanese get trained in 'Hollywood' smiles as masks slowly come off
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[June 06, 2023]
By Anton Bridge and Tom Bateman
TOKYO (Reuters) - In one of Keiko Kawano's recent classes, more than a
dozen Tokyo art school students held mirrors to their faces, stretching
the sides of their mouths upward with their fingers: they were
practising how to smile.
It's not something most people would think to pay for but Kawano's
services as a smile instructor are seeing a surge in demand in Japan,
where mask-wearing was near universal during the pandemic.
Himawari Yoshida, 20, one of the students taking the class as part of
her school's courses to prepare them for the job market, says she needed
to work on her smile.
"I hadn't used my facial muscles much during COVID so it's good
exercise," she said.
Kawano's company Egaoiku - literally "Smile Education" - has seen a more
than four-fold jump in demand from last year, with customers ranging
from companies seeking more approachable salespeople and local
governments looking to improve their residents' well-being. An hour-long
one-on-one lesson costs 7,700 yen ($55).
Even before the pandemic, donning a mask in Japan was normal for many
during hay fever season and around exams due to concern about getting
ill for a key life event.
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But while the government may have lifted its recommendation to wear
masks in March, many people have still not let them go on a daily basis.
A poll by public broadcaster NHK in May showed 55% of Japanese saying
they were wearing them just as often as two months earlier. Only 8% said
they had stopped wearing masks altogether.
Tellingly, roughly a quarter of the art school students who took the
class kept their masks on during the lesson. Young people have, perhaps,
become used to life with masks, Kawano said, noting that women might
find it easier to go out without makeup and men could hide that they
hadn't shaved.
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![](../images/060623PIX/ent_a.39.jpg)
Smile coach Keiko Kawano teaches
students at a smile training course at Sokei Art School in Tokyo,
Japan, May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jun/06/images/ads/current/graue_lda_preowned_060223.jpg) The former radio host who started
giving lessons in 2017 has also trained 23 others as smiling coaches
to spread the virtues and technique of crafting the perfect smile
around Japan.
Her trademarked "Hollywood Style Smiling Technique" method comprises
"crescent eyes", "round cheeks" and shaping the edges of the mouth
to bare eight pearly whites in the upper row. Students can try out
their technique on a tablet to get scored on their smile.
Kawano believes that culturally, Japanese people may be less
inclined to smile than Westerners because of their sense of security
as an island nation and as a unitary state. To hear her tell it, the
threat of guns might, ironically, encourage more smiling.
"Culturally, a smile signifies that I'm not holding a gun and I'm
not a threat to you," she said. With a surge in inbound tourists,
Japanese people need to communicate with foreigners with more than
just their eyes, she added.
"I think there's a growing need for people to smile."
($1 = 140 yen)
(Reporting by Anton Bridge and Tom Bateman; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim
and Edwina Gibbs)
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